Bitter History
by TadStrange24
Summary: Nack is bitter about most of his life, so he directs this anger towards Sonic. When he attacks Sonic's house in the middle of one of Tails experiments Tails and Nack switch bodies. They need to deal with the problems that arise and in the process learn a little about about eachother. CH 6 UP. THE WAIT IS OVER NEXT PART OUT!
1. Chapter 1

awww a brand new story! Excellent! If you are currently reading this and enjoying it even the slightest please give a review. If I don't get one review it doesn't get another chapter! duuh duuuh dunnnn. So lets hope it goes well. I don't own Sonic or sega and have no affilitaion whatsoever with them.

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Cold, wet, sore and absolutely miserable. Nack gritted his teeth as he tossed his duffle bag into the corner of the abandoned building he had been staying in. He hovelled over to the couch and collapsed onto it in a heap. He removed the trademark Stetson and placed it on a rotting and stained coffee table as he straightened himself out. He hated Sonic, loathed him to his core for so many reasons, he always had to go screwing up any contract he got. The money would have been perfect, enough to finally buy his way out of the slums. He tried to calm himself down, he hated letting his emotions get the better of him, he always wanted to be at his best. Though right now that wasn't an option he thought bitterly. He reached for his left brown and white boot and slid away the panel on the side of it. He grabbed a piece of plastic and stuck it between his teeth in preparation for what came next. He clicked the button and the boot suddenly felt loose, then the searing pain came. The plastic in his mouth was instantly bit in half and he tried to stifle his scream. His breathing quickened and his entire body shuddered in pain as he slowly took the boot off and placed it on the table. Slowly the pain settled down into a low throbbing burn. His reason for hating Sonic today had been he'd knocked something loose in one of his boots, which meant it had stopped working at full capacity and the only way to fix it meant taking it off. He looked at his leg, from the knee up no one could tell it had ever been injured, but one look below the knee and they would see just how bad it really was. Completely devoid of fur, covered in surgical scars, with bumps from where the bones had never set properly. He recalled the day he'd had his legs wrecked.

It had started with something simple, a job like he'd done a hundred times before, get in, shake a guy down, grab cash, deliver it to his boss. His cut was minimal but he wasn't stupid enough to try and steal from the local boss. He needed the cash so he had gone to the guys apartment to collect. He hadn't been there when he knocked so he had figured he would break in and wait for him to get home. He pulled out his lock picks, opened the door then took a seat in an armchair and waited. He eventually got bored and pulled a book from the person's shelf. It was about engineering and thus he was quite interested. He mused how if he had had a better education he probably would have wound up an engineer or at the very least a mechanic. Finally he'd heard the footsteps, heard the person open the door and when he did Nack quickly realized his mistake. The Mobian in question was a Rottweiler, massive and the second he saw Nack he had charged. He tried to pull out his gun but the monstrous Mobian ploughed into him and sent him crashing to the floor. Before he knew it the massive dog had picked him up by the throat and tossed him straight out the window. It wasn't a pleasant landing.

Nack finished thinking about how stupid he had been and finally finished repairing the boot with his tool set he had kept stored under the table. He placed it back on, clicked the button and gave a sigh of relief as the pain completely faded. Nack was impressed with himself every time he put on the boots which he'd painstakingly built. Even Robotnik would probably be impressed with how complex they actually were; though no one knew they did anything other than keep his feet warm. He once again cursed the hospital that had kicked him out because of his lack of money and or insurance, he could only dream of a scenario where they had properly fixed him instead of forcing him out into the street where he'd fixed them as best he could. The bones didn't set right and apparently once you're a known enemy of Sonic they won't bother fixing your legs no matter how much cash you offer. Still once he'd built the boots he'd been able to work again and not beg for scraps on the sidewalks.

For now he cracked open a drink and turned on an old colorless TV he'd managed to get working. After all, the universe would have to give him a break eventually and so he would just bide his time until then. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine himself somewhere far away, a warm beach, crashing waves and a set of fully functioning legs. He quickly made an edit and added in a pretty girl or two, he wondered aloud if that was really so much to ask? Probably, so with a wicked smirk he put down his drink and got ready to head back out and get some good old fashioned revenge, someone needed to put Sonic in his place and he was just the Weasel for the job.

Tails was listening with rapt attention to his brother's latest story of the days events where in the villainous Nack the Weasel had been defeated.

"Ha then I gave him the ole Sonic leg sweep and knocked him flat! Sadly when I had my back turned to help the man he'd been trying to kill he ran out a window and managed to get on his hoverbike and escape. He won't be showing his ugly mug around here soon though that's for sure." Sonic finished his story with a heroic thumbs up which Tails quickly mirrored and received a pat on the head from his hero. Tails lived in the mystic ruins with his brother and was contented to remain there for as long as he could, being surrounded by other people wasn't something Tails was 100% comfortable with. Still he loved living here, able to work interrupted on his research, plane or any of the other fifty inventions he tended to have going at any given time. Sonic and him continued talking for another twenty minutes before Sonic took off on his evening jog.

Tails walked back into the garage and took a seat in front of the desk that housed his latest project. A Chaos emerald generator, and set about carefully going over the design. As of right now it was finally built and was ready for a test trial, Tails rubbed his hands together in anticipation. He went over to the vault he'd had installed and put in the code. The great metal door swung open and Tails grabbed a yellow Chaos emerald and moved it towards the generator. He fastened it into the prongs he'd designed specifically to hold it and then flipped a switch. He felt his fur stand on end and waves of yellow energy bounded around the room, it was a success, it was perfect and…..Tails perked his ears as he heard a noise rapidly getting closer. He heard an explosion and then a massive crash as the wall exploded into a cloud of debris which pelted the generator and Tails. He coughed heavily as dust filled his lungs and stumbled about completely blind before tripping and catching himself on a switch. Tails swallowed as he looked in horror at what he'd pulled and suddenly a blinding yellow light hit him and then he fell away into sleep.

Nack slowly opened his eyes and felt a pounding headache already coming on as he looked around the smoking ruins of Sonics garage. Maybe blasting his garage open then driving into to try and sabotage it hadn't been one of his best ideas, but hell, he didn't expect the hedgehog to keep anything explosive in his garage! He tried to shake the dust off of his fur and put his hand on his head to make sure his hat was still in place. He felt nothing there so he swore as he tried to look around the ruins of the garage and find where it had fallen. Finally he spotted the Stetson grasped in a stiff brown gloved hand. Nack quirked an eyebrow, as far as he knew he was the only one who wore brown gloves. A frightening thought suddenly hit him, what if it was Tails! A fear crept into his mind at the thought of what Sonic would do if he'd killed his best friend. He quickly tossed rubble off the individual desperate to prevent the full wrath of the hedgehog. He started to see features appear from under the pile of rubble, white chest check, long purple tail…gun holster….single large oversized fang. Nack suddenly fell back realizing he was looking at his own face.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" Nack screamed when suddenly the look alike body shifted and eyes flew open and stared at Nack in utter confusion.

"What? Why am I over there….what's going on?" Nack heard the body say. He started backing away slowly when suddenly he heard the all too familiar sonic boom that signalled the arrival of his least favourite person.

"Tails buddy are you okay! Speak!" He heard Screaming before he even entered the garage. Nack had flown into a panic, he had to get out before Sonic saw him, too late, the hedgehog had his eyes looking directly into his and Nack knew he was screwed. He put his hands up in front of him and tried to back away as he started pleading.

"It was completely and accident, yeah! I uhhhm, heard Robotnik so I tried to …..help." Nack knew how ridiculous the lie sounded coming from his lips and he tried to prepare himself for the fury, but he only saw relief flood the hedgehogs face who suddenly through his arms around Nack. He was expecting a crushing pain, a stab, something but the hedgehog just stood there hugging him, Nack started wondering if there was something called the hug of death and if this was it. Suddenly Sonic pulled off him and his face went dark as he glared daggers at the doppelganger. He heard the fury in his voice and shut his eyes as he waited for the beating to start.

"You, Nack tried to hurt my buddy. You tried to kill Tails and no one gets away with that!" Nack tensed waiting for the strike when he heard a voice shout out in utter terror.

"Sonic what are you doing! It's me Tails! Sonic stop your scaring me! SONIC!" Nack opened his eyes to see the Doppelganger backing away in fear as Sonic slowly walked towards him. Now he was even more confused, just what was going on? Sonic stopped and shook his head before addressing the doppelganger, his voice cold.

"You honestly think you can convince me your Tails, Nack? Fine here's a question only Tails would know. What do I put in my chilli sauce as a secret ingredient?" Sonic continued advancing completely certain that he wouldn't answer when suddenly Nack's voice shouted at him.

"It's Cinnamon, you always add some cinnamon!" Sonic stopped and looked with a confused expression at the cowering purple weasel in front of him. He looked right into his eyes and saw honesty, something that he had never before seen in the weasels eyes. Sonic's expression shifted as he held out a hand and the weasel suddenly through his arms around Sonic and started crying. Nack was thirty clicks past confused now, if that was supposed to be Tails why the hell did he look like him. Suddenly a terrifying feeling suddenly hit him as he looked at his arms and say yellowish orange fur. Nack just looked up in time to see Sonic and his body staring at him with confused and angry looks. Nack had a confused and shocked grin on his face before he fell over and passed out from the shock of realization. He was trapped in the shrimpy, childlike body of Sonic's sidekick, why, WHY did the universe loathe him so much!


	2. Chapter 2

YAY part two done! In response to the awesome reviews, thanks Virgofox28 and Beyond an Anomaly. Don't worry I do not ask for a set amount of reviews per update. Only one for the first part to see if anyones interested in the story. Yes my grammar is uuhhhhm special? But I'm glad you are enjoying the story so we continue. Lines mean time lapse or scene change. I don't own Sonic or Sega all copyrights belong to them.

* * *

Nack mentally berated himself for getting stuck into this insane mess as he tried to pull on the pair of handcuffs that latched him to the radiator. He exhaled angrily and finally looked up into the faces of Sonic and the brat who'd stolen his body. The air was tense as everyone just glared at each other in silence. Finally it was Sonic who broke the silence.

"Well, Nack. I guess were just going to have to cart you off to whatever prison you managed to crawl out of and leave you there. Once Tails builds something to switch back we'll come get you, swap bodies and you can go back to rotting in a cell." Sonic finished with an evil smirk and Nack guessed he was still angry about blowing up his garage and nearly killing his best friend. Still, Nack let out his own evil grin which looked very out of place on Tails features as he responded.

"Oh, Sonic what a brilliant idea! Leave your little buddy's body in prison, there's no conceivable way that could backfire." His voice dripped with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes before continuing.

"I think it's fair enough to say that we don't exactly have warm feelings for each other. But neither of us wants our bodies wrecked before we get back into them and I have no intention of letting the kid out of my sight. So until this mess is sorted out I'm staying right here! Uhhh, in the house, not on the radiator…" Sonic and Tails shared a quick look before Tails turned and addressed his old body.

"Fine. But were going to make sure you don't hurt anyone while you're in my body and I know just how!" Nack now felt nervous when he saw Tails do a devious grin using his face. The fang was extremely unnerving when he was the one faced with it.

* * *

Nack rubbed his wrist now that the cuffs were off and was walking closely behind Sonic to the front yard where Tails was waiting with an all too familiar grin, with his arms crossed. Nack moved his hands up and pushed the heavy bit of metal that was now on his neck around. He already had his suspicions on what exactly it was. Finally he looked around the yard and noticed there were some new additions, posts about a foot high encircled the property. Nack swore under his breath, his hunch had been correct he knew exactly what the collar was for now. Tails started his speech, a note of pride very evident in it.

"I have come up with a way to keep you on property without…..""Yeah, yeah, shock collar, I leave the pylons I get a shock and you come collect me while I'm flailing, got it." Nack cut him off mid speech with a bored expression while both Sonic's and Tails faces showed clear signs of surprise. Nack rolled his eyes and responded to the looks.

"Oh come on! You can't have thought so lowly of me that my figuring out what you were planning leaves you visibly stunned! Listen carefully, I'm no moron and if I wanted to escape I would. I however plan on sticking around and making sure the brat doesn't manage to obliterate my body! Now that we have that sorted out one of you is going to pick up my stuff." Sonic crossed his arms and rolled his eyes and looked like he had no intention of doing any such thing. Nack guessed that would be his response so he took a deep breath and readied himself, he had one advantage and the full intent of milking it for all it was worth. He drew back his fist and punched himself in the side of the head with all the force the small body had.

Sonic instantly jerked forwards when Tails body fell to the ground. Slowly he pulled himself up and rested on one knee before standing back up and spitting a few drops of blood on the ground. He then shouted out addressing both of them trying to make his voice as serious and intimidating as he could.

"I'm in your little punk's body and if you don't listen I can tear it apart! I won't seriously wound it mind you, just leave it a scarred up mess. All you would do if you could even work up the guts to wound my body is make it look even more intimidating, and in my line of work that's a bonus. So I don't wound your body and you make me comfortable while I stay in this hole. Deal?" He glared at both of them praying they wouldn't call his bluff, in all honesty he hated the scars on his body and it would anger him fiercely to get any more. Finally Tails spoke his voice obviously trying to keep out the anger he felt.

"Fine. I'll go get your stuff but if you hurt my body I'll make you the least hated villain on Mobius. Do you think you'd be able to get any jobs if you kept helping Sonic?" Nack glared back and Tails did the same, Nack was impressed, threatening his reputation was a smart move. At last Nack gave an innocent smile and walked up to Tails and offered his hand. Tails shook it while keeping their eyes locked. Nack told Tails where he had been staying and what to grab, before walking into Sonic's house, giving a devious grin and flopping down on the couch. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here after all.

* * *

Tails was angry, in fact this might just be the angriest he'd ever been. Sonic had insisted right before he left that it would make more sense for him to run and grab the stuff, but Tails refused, wanting to walk and sort some thoughts out on the way. His thoughts buzzed as he walked down the street in the less reputable side of town.

"Stupid Nack, bruising my face. I'll get him back for it later but till then I'll just grab his stuff and get back, don't want to leave him alone with my body." Tails calmed himself as he stood in front of the building and Tails did a double take on the number. It was….a dump, which was the only polite way to describe the building. Walls were collapsing; the entire place had a horrible smell that hung over it and almost every inch was faded or mouldy. Tails felt a moment of pity, but was quickly reminded of why he was here so he stepped inside the decrepit structure.

He followed Nack's instructions and found the door marked with a white dot in the corner and carefully used the key then turned the handle and went in the open door. He looked around the small space that was the main room along with a badly dented mini fridge. He walked to the stained coffee table and pulled a tool set from under it and tossed it into the backpack he'd brought. The place had no decoration, just a couch a TV that looked far too old and the mini fridge. He turned his back and entered the bedroom.

It was clean, something that Sonic's room never was. He went over to the dresser and started removing the objects Nack had instructed. More tools, a toothbrush, towel that had someone's monogram on it. Tails shook his head as he realized that probably most everything in here was stolen. Finally he finished clearing out the dressers and went down on his knees and removed a briefcase that was under the bed. Tails doubted it was full of candy so he opened it make certain no weapons were hidden inside.

Tails was confused when he looked over the items. A pop gun with a broken cork right next to it, a large knife which Tails quickly removed, odds and ends, and a photograph covered in dust. Tails picked up the photo and nearly fell over when he cleaned away the grime and the picture was revealed. It was Nack except young, probably only four or five sitting on the knee of what looked like his mother. On the other side was who had to be his father holding the hands of another young weasel who looked four or five years older. Probably his sister Tails thought, he'd heard a few things about her over the years. They were all smiling and looked happy. Tails shook his head and felt guilty about going through his things, shut the briefcase and started to head back to his home.

* * *

Nack almost had tears in his eyes as he fell down on his knees and tried to keep from openly weeping as he looked at the horror. His bike, his beautiful bike was damaged, he ran his hand over the dented surface as he tried to keep his composure. One of the walls had collapsed on it and Nack was now furiously digging it out of the rubble. Sonic was watching with a smirk, glad to see something get under the weasels' skin as he spotted Tails coming towards him. He waved and Tails waved back, Sonic felt weird having the two mixed up but had been coping rather well so far. He paused in front of Sonic and handed him the knife he'd found before walking towards Nack who was frantically throwing stones away from his bike.

"Nack! Here's your stuff and…I uhhhm took the knife out of your suitcase." Nack stopped digging his bike out and faced his old body with an annoyed expression before he replied.

"Yeah should've figured you'd snoop around my stuff. Briefcase is for moving stuff, anything else in it was for…nothing. Just garbage I should've tossed years ago." Nack grabbed the case and backpack and made his way into the house towards the guest room which he had claimed. Tails stood there watching him go and felt an all too familiar twinge of curiosity. For someone who had captured Sonic, tried to kill Sally and numerous others they really didn't know much of anything about him. He was curious, as he always was. Putting it out of his mind and with a sigh he decided to start cleaning the garage Nack had destroyed.

* * *

Nack sat in the room he'd claimed and looked at the photo in his hands, how long ago had it been taken? He couldn't even remember. He grit his teeth as he remembered happier times, he hated them because it only reminded him of everything he'd lost. He tossed the photo back into the briefcase and pulled out the ancient pop gun, he'd played with the thing for so many hours as a kid, him and his sister. His mind froze and his grip tightened so much that the wood creaked. He took a deep breath, then another, before he was calm enough. He hated Sonic to be sure, but he hated his sister so much more. He could work with her when the pay was high enough but other than that she was as good as dead to him. He finished packing the drawers and excited the room, memories safely boxed away.

* * *

Tails was covered in dust, not to mention bruises as he tugged at the boot trying to get it to come off. Nack walked in and his eyes went wide as he ran up and knocked Tails hands away.

"What the hell are you trying to do?!" Tails was taken back and Sonic was in the room within seconds glaring daggers at Nack.

"What's the big idea yelling at my buddy after he goes and gets your junk! You think we're just going to sit here and take you being a jerk, well you're in for quite a surprise!" Nack just rubbed his head in frustration before responding trying to keep his voice calm.

"I was trying to give him some advice, now butt out blue or I won't give him the advice and when he breaks the boot he'll regret it." Nack paused and saw Sonic keeping his mouth closed so he continued.

"The boot isn't supposed to come off. It's sealed right now and you really don't want to take it off. You can do anything with it on that you need to, it's watertight so you can shower with it and be fine. If you take it off don't say I didn't bloody warn you." With that Nack turned and went back to his room, trying to keep calm.

Tails and Sonic shared a confused look as they both looked down at the boot and carefully poked it now fearful it might explode. Tails eventually filed it under "to be investigated tomorrow" and headed upstairs to take his shower. He could only wonder how people like Nack are made, the picture didn't look bitter, or angry something had changed and it had changed him. His curiosity was piqued and so he would endeavour to discover the answers he sought. Of course those answers could wait until after a nice long sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey oh another chapter is here. Hooray! But I really appreciate reviews, and would love to hear from anyone reading this, get your opinions or even just say high. That being said thank you Virgofox28 for your review of last and first chapter :) and B.A.A for his review of the first. Now before I yammer on lets start. I don't own sonic or sega all copyrights are theres.

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Nack slinked into the kitchen, bags under his eyes and a scowl on his lips, a mood that was mirrored when Tails entered. One look told him Tails had gotten as much sleep as he had, that is to say zilch. Tails looked up at him and posed a one word question.

"tails?" Which Nack responded to with a dreary nod. The twin tails of a fox had flicked about all night and try as he might Nack hadn't discerned a way to make them be still. A similar problem Tails shared with his now single tail which took up nearly as much of the bed as he did. They each sat down at the breakfast table with a hastily made bowl of cereal and ate in silence, the lack of sleep preventing bickering or even realization of the enemy across the table.

Sonic walked in whistling and nearly had his heart stop when he walked into the kitchen and was met with twin glares the likes of which could shatter glass. He swallowed nervously before waving to Tails whose glare softened and following a deep breath was reciprocated. Sighing in relief Sonic asked fearing the worst.

"What's wrong bud? Last time I saw that look was when I let you watch that horror movie marathon." Nack had a laughing grin that was quickly wiped off of his face by a glare from Tails. Turning to Sonic he answered.

"Stupid tail, took up the entire bed and kept hitting me in the back." Nack's grin grew even wider and though sleep had eluded him as much as Tails he still needed to try and follow his routine. Standing from the table he made his way to the back door and was stopped by the suspicious voice of Sonic.

"Where do you think you're going?" Nack turned and replied an obvious note of annoyance in his voice.

"Exercise. If I'm trapped in this body I might as well figure out what it can do. An since I can't leave the house I guess I'll just hafta try and put some muscle on this shrimp." With a grin Nack moved into the back yard and had Sonic and Tails attention as he instantly started doing push ups. The two shared a moderately concerned look before moving to the living room to discuss the "guest" as Sonic tentatively used.

"So Tails how long till you get a machine that can get you back to being you? Cause I don't want to be near that sleezeball for one minute more than I have to." Tails quickly ran through some calculations in his head before giving an answer.

"About ten should do it if I apply myself. But I need to get some good sleep starting today otherwise I'll just barely be focusing. Then there's problem two though." Sonic quirked an eyebrow before Tails, or to be more precise Nack's face fell into a shocked expression. Finally getting himself together he answered.

"Sonic don't tell me you didn't notice. Nack's only got eight fingers!" Sonic quickly looked down at the brown gloves and quickly counted the four fingers on each hand before the expression on his face showed the understanding.

"Oh so you're going to need to figure out how to work with only four fingers. I gottcha, yeah that will be hard, still as long as no one catches wind of this insanity we should be able to hole up until we can get you back in your body." Sonic just prayed nothing went wrong, a prayer that based upon what was about to be brewing in the backyard went unheeded.

* * *

Nack was sweating buckets and was absolutely disgusted with the poor physique his new body was displaying. He was nearly dead at twenty push-ups, he gritted his teeth and pushed harder, determined to get to at least twenty five before collapsing. He heard it suddenly, a snicker, he turned expecting to see Sonic or Tails there to taunt him but instead was facing someone unfamiliar. A rabbit with large ears and some blueish blob on her shoulder giggled and waved. Nack went into a sitting position and a new wave of sweat suddenly went out that had nothing to do with exercise. Nack's train of thought went as follows.

/Crap, crap, CRAP I'm screwed! This thing seems to know Tails and if she finds out I'm not him and runs off past the pylons where I can't chase her she could tell someone. If someone hears they'll come to investigate and that means trouble. Okay Nack old boy just play it cool, act as Tails would act….I'm screwed/

Nack raised his hand and waved giving the friendliest smile he had ever tried to produce. The end result being the rabbit moved backwards a step. Now Nack was panicking he needed to keep her from fleeing the pylons, he tried to think of something, words, talking YES he should try talking.

"HI there." Nack shouted waving with a slightly less intense smile. The rabbit gave a smile and walked straight up to him and took a seat across. Suddenly the blueish blob started whispering to the small rabbit and Nack was confused but quickly realized he needed to do something to distract her. She looked pretty young so, a game, kids liked games right. Nack shouted on the verge of a panic attack.

"Hey do you want to play a game!?" The bunny's eyes lit up and she instantly jumped to her feet as the blue blob which Nack could now clearly make out was still whispering what sounded like the word "chow" repeated endlessly. The bunny shushed the thing and spoke for the first time.

"So what game do you want to play?" Nack quickly tried to pull extremely distant memories from his mind as to what games kids played. Tag came to mind so he quickly voiced his paln.

"How about a game of tag, yeah that sounds good right. Cept we don't go outside of those pylons, I er mean poles over there because….that would be, out of bounds." Nack finished weakly. The bunny though seemed overjoyed and quickly ran over to the still sitting Nack and pushed him over on to his back. Nack had some breath knocked out of him but quickly lept to his feet determined to keep up the charade, and more importantly not lose. He hated losing with a passion.

Sonic had gotten himself a large glass of apple juice and was walking past the back door when he decided to make sure Nack wasn't trying to escape the perimeter, he peered through the glass of the back door. Immediately following he did a spit take spraying much of the kitchen floor with apple juice before nearly ripping the door off of its hinges. Nack had been chasing Cream with a frightening level of speed, a level that was immediately reduced to zero by a swift tackle from Sonic. Sonic glared right at him ready to start screaming when Creams voice bright as ever suddenly spoke up before Sonic got the chance.

"Oh Mr. Sonic are you playing tag to? Cause I think touching him makes you it now." Sonic just blinked several times in confusion when suddenly Nack spoke from under Sonic his voice saturated with none too subtle hints.

"Yeah, me and my "friend" were out here when we decided to have a game of tag for fun. So "big brother" do you want to join?" The voice he was using clearly illustrated to Sonic he was trying to communicate something along the lines of "get me the heck out of here" Sonic couldn't help but smirk as he climbed off of Nack and walked back towards the house saying over his shoulder.

"No you two can play, it would be unfair with my speed advantage and all so you two just have fun." Sonic turned briefly to observe the slightly twitching expression of Nack who was clearly not happy. Sonic walked back inside and immediately got Tails so they could watch the torment of one Nack. T. Weasel.

* * *

Nack was lying on his back out of breath and next to him was the rabbit who at this point Nack was certain was a demon. Nothing should have that much energy and be so cheerful; at the very least he was pleased with his performance as she appeared to be none the wiser. Finally she turned and looked him straight in the eye, the close proximity had Nack giving a nervous grin which was adding to his exasperation of the day's events. Finally she sat up and Nack quickly copied and both faced each other in direct eye contact when she spoke.

"That was really very fun. By the way my names Cream what's yours?" Nack's face immediately fell and a look of stark terror crossed his face as he replied in an incredibly shaky voice.

"Wh…what do ya mean…it's me Tails. ..your ..long-time friend" Cream just shook her head a replied in her soft and still friendly voice.

"No you're not. Cheese told me right away that you didn't feel right to him and he's never wrong. Then you acted weird the entire time and didn't use your tails at all. So what's your name?" Nack was beaten, by a little girl no less, he couldn't think of any plausible lie even against a child. Finally he responded in an embarrassed and accepting voice.

"Nack…nice to meet you." Cream quickly grabbed his hand and shook it nearly out of its shoulder socket. After managing to get his hand away from hers he asked the first question that came to mind now that his cover was blown.

"If you knew I wasn't Tails why the heck would you come anywheres near me?" She giggled softly before responding.

"We'll you asked if I wanted to play a game and you looked kind of mad when you were doing those push-ups so I thought I could try to cheer you up!" Nack's expression had only become more dumbfounded. This kid meets someone in the body of her friend and wants to cheer him up, mental deficiencies were his first instinct before he recalled something he could only barely remember. Innocence. Taking advantage of the silence Cream spoke up and burst Nack's train of thought.

"Tails is all right though right?" Nack just nodded and decided to answer honestly.

"Me and im accidently swapped bodies. But you need to swear that you don't tell anyone about this or it could get me killed! An you don't wanna kill me right?" Nack intoned and Cream nodded vigorously with a surprisingly serious look on her face. Nack let tiny smile escape as Cream stood straight up and gave a mock salute. Nack briefly let his mind wander back to when he was young and tried to think of a time he had been so innocent, tag on the front lawn with his sister, each trying to hit the other with their pop guns. He looked at the little girl and saw the spark that made childhood so special, the spark that eventually died in everyone. A thought went across his mind, a thought so ridiculous he had he told himself only last week he would have been shot dead.

"Wait here for sec" Nack got up and walked into the house and returned a short time later with an object concealed behind his back, he was biting his bottom lip still wondering if he should or not. Finally with a heavy sigh he told Cream to hold out her hands. She did and in them Nack placed a worn and cracked pop gun that had long ago brought a smile to his face. Cream looked at it with wide eyes and turned it around in her hands before asking the question that had popped up the minute she saw it.

"What is it?" Nack sweat dropped as he replied his voice imperceptively lighter than normal.

"It's a pop gun, an old toy I used to play with. Been gathering dust for years and I should have hocked it a long time ago. It's all yours if you want it, useless to me anyways." Nack finished trying to sound uninterested. Cream had an enormous smile that ran ear to ear and did something which Nach hadn't had occur to him in years, discounting Sonic thinking he was Tails that is, she gave him a hug. Nack stood there coughing uncomfortably when finally Cream detached herself and grabbed his pinky and shook it while speaking.

"Don't worry your toy is safe with me and so is your secret Mr. Nack. I can't wait to show mamma. Thanks, this is one of the coolest things I've ever gotten, but it's getting around lunch time so I'd better get back home. See you soon!" Cream shouted over shoulder as she took off into the woods and for an instant Nack felt a warm pull at his heartstrings, that is to say until a blue hedgehog walked up from behind.

"What's that I see, Nack growing a heart why this…" Sonic was silence by an unexpected fist launched into his head as he turned and walked back into the house without a word. Sonic dusted himself off and soon followed rubbing his nose and grumbling angrily. Later that night Nack, despite the two tails found himself in a restful sleep for the first time in a long while.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry about the wait mate :) Anyways I have the next chapter up and it answers many questions also adds a few. Now to my thank you's Virgofox28 big thumbs up and thank you for continually reviewing, might I also say your taste in fiction is impeccable :). That also goes for Rynn Wolfe! Hey long time no hello, nice to see you on one of my stories again. Now lets get started, I dont own sonic or sega and please read and review it would mean a lot.

also/ means flashback

* * *

Tails typed at the keys of his personal computer as quickly as he could with his eight fingers. The sun had now just risen and still he had gotten no answers to his query. According to the internet Nack the Weasel existed only in news headlines and nowhere else, no private records, nothing. The obvious conclusion Tails had come to was that Nack the Weasel wasn't his real name; he had already tried Fang the Sniper as well but it proved equally pointless. His temper was quickly rising, not least to say because he had started this venture after failing to fall asleep for the second day in a row. There was a history to Nack, and Tails was deadest on finding out just what it was.

Nack stretched his arms above his head and yawned as he got to his feet, he was feeling much better after last night's shockingly restful sleep. He gave a small smile as he recalled the young rabbit; it was a nice change of pace to see innocence. Sadly he was all too aware that it would soon leave the girl, better for her to enjoy her youth now. Placing a foot in front of the other he decided to look around the house, likely the lab/garage to see if he could start fixing his sky-bike. Opening the door without a sound he saw Tails tapping furiously at his keyboard. Nack observed the garage and was most impressed at the amount he had manged to get fixed after his "grand entrance". He crept up upon Tails and glanced at the nature of his frustrations and quickly noticed it was him, a small growl escaped his lips.

Tails back stiffened when he heard that noise, a low growl, he stopped typing and turned to see his own face made into an angered sneer. He gulped as Nack tried to calm himself, a job that several deep breaths helped to accomplish. Finally Nack spoke his voice still sharp and annoyed.

"What exactly do you think you're doing? Trying to learn something about your roommate huhh. Well here's something you might not have known, I. Hate. Snoops!" Nack fiercely growled out the last part and angrily turned to go before he did something he regretted. He was nearly out of the garage when Tails had regained himself and called out to him. Tails was nervous but needed to know, plus he held the trigger for his shock caller behind his back so if things went bad he had some defense.

"I just wanted to know something about you. You do all these bad things, you steal, try to kill people and then when you run into Cream you give her a toy you once owned? It doesn't make any sense! Like with your boots when you freaked out when I tried to take them off, or the photo I found and…." Tails trailed off as he saw the look in Nack's eyes, it was brief but it was a look Tail had seen often enough before on his own face to recognize. Sadness. Nack quickly covered the painful memories with a sneer, and look of hate, but it didn't have the same edge it had before and after a moment of not wavering and staring straight back at him Nack relented and let the façade drop.

"Kid I haven't had an easy life. It's all you really need to know." The sad certainty that filled the voice made Tails feel almost guilty, but he could tell he was close to getting to the bottom of it, so he decided he would share some of his own story.

"Yeah well neither was mine. I'm an orphan who nobody wanted, a freak that everybody used to make fun of. I haven't even met my real parents and I don't know if there alive or dead. So you can't say your life's been bad when mine has been just as rotten." Nack chuckles slightly and then looks around the room briefly before hopping up and taking a seat on one of Tails benches.

"Did you ever once wonder why I hate Sonic so much? Sure he screws up every job I get and is the biggest arrogant jerk on Mobius but there's more to it. Kid, I realized this a couple a years ago when I was looking up Sonic's associates to see who I could use to get at the hedgehog. You of course came up numero uno on the list and when I read some of your history I figured it out. I'm you, the version Sonic didn't save." Tails face shows the confusion at that statement and his mind goes end over end trying to figure out if it's some Chaos emerald sorcery or something crazy like it. Nack seeing the kid's head is about to explode continues.

"We were both made orphans young, we were both freaks, you for your tails me for being a hybrid. Difference was when you really needed it Sonic came along and saved you, gave you a family and place to sleep. When I needed my sister most right after our parents died, she left me. In the middle of winter out in the woods saying she'd be back, I waited, I waited a long time but she didn't come back. Since then I found the only person you can rely on is yourself, the only person that means anything or is worth a damn is you and if you're not careful someone crueler will take advantage of you. So I survived, forgotten and abandoned and I did myself with nobody's help, so there you go kid. You happy you know the whole sad story of Nack." With that Nack turned and left, Tails sat there stunned trying to take everything in.

On his way out Nack had grabbed a screwdriver and carried it with him to the bathroom, where he locked the door. He was angry for letting his emotions get the best of him and now that fox knew about his past. Worse still he would have to see that look of pity in his own face when he walked past him, he hated that face. He wasn't going to stay here anymore, at least not by their rules. He wetted some fur down around the collar so he could get a better look at it in the mirror. He started unscrewing and within a couple of minutes was inside of its casing trying to figure out how to remove it or disconnect the shocking portion. With his knowledge of electronics and building things he found a wire and yanked it quickly out of the device. The whole apparatus quickly clattered into the sink leaving his neck free of the device. He went out the bathroom window and walked past the pylons with a glint in his eye.

Sonic walked into the garage and saw Tails staring at empty air with a look of deep concentration woven across his face. He walked up and started waving his hand in front of his face.

"yo, Mobius to Tails come in Tails." Tails blinked and shook his head before focusing on Sonic. His face was still confused and showed how deeply he had thought about what Nack had said. Finally he spoke to Sonic.

"Nack told me about why he's the way he is Sonic and…he's right, it could have been me if you hadn't come along so….Thanks Sonic I love you bro." With that Tails put Sonic in a deep embrace which left Sonic completely scattered and confused by what Tails had just said.

"What do you mean bro that it could have been you?" Sonic managed to say once he had pried Tails from himself. Tails tried to think of how to describe it before he responded.

"Me and Nack are so similar it's scary, and I never realized it until he mentioned it. We were both orphaned and called freaks and we didn't have good childhoods. Sonic remember when you met me and I was stealing from peoples dumpsters just to get enough food? That was probably Nack to except after you saved me I stopped stealing but no one helped Nack, se he just got worse. Sonic, it could have been me and…I think we should try and help Nack." Sonic's had taken in the story, though he viewed it with heavy skepticism.

"Tails, Nack is a trickster and a liar; he would tell us anything he thought we wanted to hear so he could get something from us later. But if what he said is actually true…Tails something's you can't erase, he's done a lot of terrible things and people wouldn't forget. He's chosen his path so we just gotta let him walk it. Now speaking of Nack where is he? I haven't seen him in over an hour." Tails glanced at the wall clock and saw it had been about an hour since he stormed out, a nervous feeling suddenly rocketed through him as he ran out of the garage and back into the house.

As the door leading to the garage swung open so too did the bathroom door as a rather tired looking Nack exited as he swept his eyes up and down the hall. Tails was relieved to see him, he had been nervous he might have disabled the collar and run off. Giving a curt nod to each other they moved to walk past when Tails was stopped by Nack's voice.

"When this is all over we never speak of it and go our separate ways, we'll be enemies again and if someone pays me I'll take you out without a second thought. But as long as I'm here I might as well learn how the other side lives, so since you seem so intent on dredging up the past I'll make you a deal. You teach me about the Chaos Emeralds and I'll tell you my story." Tails was taken aback by the sudden offer so he immediately questioned it.

"Why do you want to know about the Chaos Emeralds?" Nack scrunched his face up as he thought what part of the information he should let out, he would be cautious for now, only a small lie.

"Everyone always wants them and pay such a high price so I wanted to know why. That and…when I had my hands on one of em once I heard some weird voice trying to talk to me, didn't know what it wanted so I sold it quick as I could. So we have a deal already or not." Tails shook Nack's hand and motioned to the couch, Nack sighed knowing a volley of questions was about to be unleashed, he only hoped he didn't regret it.

/

Nack held the purple chaos emerald in his hands and gave a wicked grin the highlighted the sharp fang for which he had been given his nickname. He held it aloft in the sunlight and saw the facets and could only imagine how much it would be worth. Then a chill ran down his spine and all his fur stood on end when a voice strong and otherworldly called out from nowhere and yet sounded from everywhere.

"Nack Weasel, how far have you fallen? I who see all that is, was and could be feel pity for you. Mend the bond that never was, so that you might salvage what has become of you. Seek out he who has broke but will never break, find the heart that bled and madness that fell. You were the hero of Mobius, be so again!" Nack jumps with a start and drops the emerald instantly, fear ripping through him. Cursed, that's his only explanation, he needs to sell it and quick, if he can't then he would burn it. He runs towards the city, he doesn't want to hold or touch it, so he pays the words almost no mind. The memory fades back to present day as Nack listens to Tails questions and tries to answer them as best he can. But first he tells Tails something that could finally get him working on getting everyone back into their proper bodies, the secret to sleeping with a single massive tail.

* * *

Hmmm now I wonder what Nack was up to when he snuck out, guess you'll need to wait muhahaha.


	5. Chapter 5

Why hello there everyone and or anyone! I am, as to the best of my knowledge, ALIVE! Thus the story goes on. Thank you so much for your review tails267. Now I hope this holds up and is nice enoguh to keep you interested as I have, I confess kept you all waiting far to long. But enoguh with my poor attempts to be funny. I would as always love to see reviews and I own nothing of Sega or Sonic.

/

Nack gave a wicked grin as he stepped out over the pylons of the yard and into the woods beyond. He needed time to clear out his head, figure out just why he had told that kid some of his story. It left him even more aggravated thinking he had been played by some kid into talking. He clenched his hands into a fist as he walked slowly, occasionally jumping from one tangled root of the ancient trees to another.

It was calming him down well enough when finally he saw bright midday sunlight jutting from the trees ahead. A few steps more and he was able to see a small house, a semi faded yellow with a white picket fence around it. He listened intently and soon a sound hit his ears just moments before the sight did. The Rabbit from yesterday came flying around the corner obviously trying to outrun the blueish blob which appeared to be chasing her, arms outstretched. A game of tag Nack thought with a soft smile, the priority of the innocent. He was about to turn and return to Sonic and Tails home, mind now calm after having clearly disobeyed their wishes of him not leaving.

"Oh hi Tails! Come to visit Cream?" He didn't recognize the voice so he turned to where it had come from and stood facing a much larger rabbit with enough similarities to Cream to allow Nack to guess that this was her mother. He nervously swallowed and figured he would play along, then quickly leave when the chance arose, he cursed his luck realizing if Tails or Sonic found out he was gone it would get more uncomfortable in that house. Nack gave his best smile and nodded, before Vanilla responded.

"Oh, I'm sorry Tails but we were just about to head into Mobotropolis for some groceries. Why don't you come with us and I'll take the both of you out for ice cream!" Nack knew with every fibre of his being that he should say sorry, maybe another time, turn around and get back. His stomach however seemed to have other ideas as it growled loudly and Nack found a sheepish grin on his face.

"Actually, that would be awesome! Thanks." Nack heard himself screaming in his own mind asking why on Mobius he had said that, he ignored that part of his mind. Walking behind the large rabbit towards the house they were quickly spotted by Cream who had a large grin appear on her face when she spotted Nack, involuntarily it was an expression Nack found himself mirroring. After a few quick words the two were seated in the car and arriving in Mobotropolis a few minutes later.

Vanilla grabbed Creams hand and walked forwards and Nack too felt his hand quickly grasped by Creams alarmingly strong grip. He walked along with them and marvelled at the more classy side of town. Buildings new and pristine dotted the sides, the sidewalk was clean and people waved and said hello as the three of them passed. After a quick and uneventful trip through the supermarket they came to an ice cream shop and sat on some red wooded park table eating their frozen treats. Nack felt quite peaceful, the sun warming his fur, the taste of chocolate ice cream, a treat he had not had since his own family had gone to a little place like this. He closed his eyes and exhaled, he could definitely get used to this.

Like a whip cracking the silence ended and a blaring alarm ripped through the air, just across the street a bank front doors burst open and several mask wearing Mobians took off. Nack quickly thought, he needed to stay in character, yeah that was probably it, just playing a part was all and so he chased after them with everything he had. Nack was seriously impressed with the kids body right now, not to strong but when it wanted to run it sure could move. The gap between him and the robbers shrank until with a massive leap he tackled the three of them. Standing up he realized he had failed to think this through, three angry gun wielding Mobians picked themselves up and glared with hate directly at him.

Time seemed to slow, the weapons were slowly being either retrieved from the ground or raising to face him, he acted. Grabbing a lid from a trashcan he through it like a Frisbee and charged right at the nearest Mobian with a jump kick while the lid crashed into the nose of the furthest assailant. The kick land square on the Mobians chest and knocked the wind straight out of him before Nack kicked off and sailed with an outstretched fist straight into the last Mobian whose gun had been pointing at where Nack had first stood. The crack of his jaw was like thunder and all three found themselves on the ground when a patrol car pulled up and quickly collected the three would be robbers.

"That was a heck of an impressive job Tails! Glad you're on our side son, keep up the good work and in a few years you'd make a fine officer." The Officer clambered into the car and sped off, Nack's mind was spinning off its mounts, he'd just stopped a robbery and been complimented by a cop….What was the world coming to he wondered.

/

Nack finally pulled himself from remembering the days earlier events, he tuned back into Tails who was still rambling on about Atomic theory and how it fit in with the Chaos emeralds. Nack recalled saying he wanted the short version, apparently Tails was completely unawares of what that entailed. He held up a hand and managed to silence the overeager explanation, whilst rubbing his forehead hoping it would break the oncoming migraine.

"Right, I should ave been more exact. What. Do. They. Do? That's all. What are they used for and if they have any kooky powers what would they be?" Tails paused, revealing the sheer awe inspiring power the chaos emeralds were capable of might motivate Nack to pursue them more effectively and if he figured out how to use them for himself then it was unlikely any good would come from it. Still, he had made a promise, info for info and so with an exasperated breath caused by his morals once more backing him into a corner he spoke.

"In a really basic sense all the emeralds are transmitters that the master emerald channels its energy through. They can be used for power sources by themselves but alone they don't normally do that much unless the Master Emerald is influencing them directly." A small spark jumped through Nack's eye, the master emerald, another small thing to investigate, though likely it would need to be after he was back in his proper body. He refocused and Tails sat there tapping his foot expectantly, he knew precisely what he wanted, a very unpleasant history lesson.

"So, why did you take up….whatever you do, gun for hire I guess?" Nack paused as he let his mind wander a ways into the past.

"Well if you're so keen tah know, after my sister left me I bummed around, got some street smarts and got good at surviving. Eventually I thought I figured out a perfect scheme to get out of the slums, I enlisted in the army." Nack let the images slowly return to his mind.

/

"You want to enlist with the army of his majesty king Acorn? How old are you anyways, six, seven, this is war son and it's no place for babies, so get back to your momma boy!" A young Nack with a glint in his eye and a soon to be trademarked grin on his face spoke calm as could be, he'd planned this encounter out well.

"Sir, I'm the required age of sixteen, I have my birth certificate and a clean bill of health, sir! I want to defend this kingdom with all I have and my height is due to chronic shortness that runs through the entire family. I have a doctor's note and am ready for training as soon as possible, sir!" So much time spent in so many rough places had paid off; a professional forger had put everything together in return for his compliance as a distraction while a target was pickpocketed. He didn't enjoy it, he'd been nice, but he needed to get out and so it had been worth it if this went as planned. The recruitment officer lifted his eyes from the paperwork and with a most sceptical look slid a card across the table.

"Go to this address at 06:00 tomorrow, with the war going on we need everyone we can get." Nack turned round and walked from the office with a smile stretching clear across his face. The breeze had never felt so fine.

/

Tails had a dumbfounded look on his face after the portion of his story had finished, he regained composure and spat out the obvious.

"Wait, you were in the army?! Then why aren't you in any records or…" Nack quieted him with a hand before responding.

"After I was kicked from the…air force for lack of a better term, I went around for a while till I started taking up jobs as a thug. The work suited me but as I started taking bigger jobs I drew more attention to myself so I hired a guy who wiped all records of me. A worthwhile investment if ever there was one." Tails slowly nodded now figuring out why there had been no trace of his history. A new thought came to mind which he readily voiced.

"What got you kicked out of the air force? And why did you say "for lack of a better term"? He responded as well as he could.

"I showed a lot of skill during the war with the Overlanders. Right slime balls they were. Anyways I showed a lot of skill with one particular vehicle back when they were still used by the military. They were practically relics then but they sat me behind the wheel of a sky bike and I could make her dance. This turned out to be the problem though I….borrowed the bike to go on…a private mission. Suffice it to say they were not happy and I was mustered out. The war was over anyways and what use was I then. I kept the bike though, course those sticklers would say I stole it. Lucky for me anyways, only two years later Robotnik took control and all military personnel were….dealt with. I hope that satisfies you for today cause that all I'm going to be telling you. I'm tired and you droning on about physics didn't help. Goodnight." Nack turned his back and headed to his room leaving Tails sitting alone on the couch with his thoughts.

Tails processed them and let his mind focus on to the TV just in time to catch a news report that left his jaw hitting the floor. Sonic having walked in now that the conversation was over was just as taken by the report.

"A bank heist was thwarted today by one of Mobotropolis's own heroes Miles "Tails" Prower. The three would be robbers fled into the street and would have made it safely away if it had not been for the brave actions of Tails. Engaging the three adult Mobians singlehandedly he managed to subdue them where upon the Mobotroplois police department arrived on the scene and took the criminals to prison to stand trial at a future date. Sincere thanks go out to you from all of us here at Station 1." Sonic's and Tails shared a slow look of astonishment. Nack had managed not only to escape but had used the time to catch criminals…all logic (what little there was) in Sonic's mind collapsed upon it.

Nack lie atop his bed staring at his ceiling, no there ceiling he corrected himself. He let his mind go over his old squad, and then to after he had been discharged. There was a single moment that always jutted out of his memories but he was never sure why, looking at it from his current perspective though he could see it clearly.

/

Nack pulled himself from the woods and spat out some pine needles that had wacked him in the face. A fork in the road and a small glance showed him which way civilization was. He could see some flames and here yelling, maybe he could help. It was still his duty to protect, he had two working legs and he should use them for some good. Suddenly like lightening a bullet roared towards him from the direction of those who needed aid. He turned and ran down along the other path. A path that led to old faces of people he'd known on the street years ago, jobs as a thug, then bounty hunter, then mercenary and finally assassin. A road that had led to his legs being broken and then finally to him laying atop of the bed thinking about it and all that just might have been. With a sigh he rolled over and was soon enveloped within a world of dreams and remembrances.


	6. Chapter 6

The story is aliveeee! It's been a few months since an update and I apologize. But a giant thank you goes out to TammyHybrid 21 who reminded me that people still read my things even awhile after I write them. Thank you. Also Beyond an Anomaly thank you for reviewing again and sorry this update is so late. Bearvalley3365 I was a little confused about what you were asking me? If I read it right and you want be to add your character into my stories sorry but I don't want to take other peoples characters into my own stories, but he sounds like a really cool character though. Also to the guest, thank you its always nice to get any review. Now that my apologies are done lets start. I don't own sonic or sega and have no affiliation with either.

* * *

The snow had just started falling and the two figures sat huddled together in a small grove of trees. The older of the two spoke with her feminine voice that warmed the younger of the twos heart just enough to stop sniffling.

"Nack , I need to go and get help, find something to keep us through the night, don't worry... I'll be back soon. I promise." With that his sister walked from the woods and left him sitting there, he pulled the tattered blanket, one of the few mementos of home closer around himself. He missed his mama and papa and shivers raced up his back as he pulled the blanket even tighter around his small frame, trying in vain to keep out the prying fingers of Winter. She said she would be back soon, and sis never lied, so he sat there waiting, knowing she would be back soon.

An hour, or close to it in his young mind came and went and his fur wasn't doing much to keep the cold out anymore, his nose was running and the soft fall of snow had stopped being beautiful and each flake that fell on him only made him colder. He knew she'd be back soon, probably any minute he reasoned. He thought of his house, the warm fire with mama and papa and a small tear slid down his cheek and was soon followed by a slow flow of tears, the men that came and kicked him and sis out of the house were terrible, in his mind the seemed like giants cloaked in shadow and with eyes burning red. He wanted to go home, he wanted his parents, and he wanted his sister. His wishes, as much as his tears went unheeded and he curled into a small ball and wrapped his tail as best as he could around himself to keep warm. He could wait; she had to be here soon.

The sun just barely hung above the horizon, the shadows of the trees were long and would have frightened him if he had been able to focus on them. His entire body was wracked with shivers and shakes and the tears had long ago frozen to his cheeks. He was terrified, but not for himself, he was scared that something had happened to his big sister, Nick was always there for him, she wouldn't leave him, she could be in trouble, he tried to push the rising fear down and be brave like she had taught him. He couldn't keep his eyes open much longer, he put his head down and closed his eyes slowly, he felt so very tired, but she would show up, she had to; she was all his family in the world.

/

Nack bolted upright shaking in the guest room bed of Tails house, sweat went across his brow and he breathed deep and roughly as he wiped moisture from the corners of his eyes. He refused to call them tears; tears were for weaker people than him. He shuddered and the memory, the dream had been so detailed, like the worst day of his life was happening all over again. At least he had woken up before the next part; he didn't want to revisit that ever again. Pushing his legs over the side of the bed they dangled just a little bit above the floor as he took in the air. He checked the clock 3:17 and sighed as he pushed himself onto the floor and headed for the garage, to the one thing that could always get his mind off of whatever troubled him, his sky-bike, The Marvelous Queen.

Stealthily walking through the house he pushed open the door to the garage and was surprised to see the lights on. That is until he spied Tails bent over a table with a jewellers screwdriver in hand. He eyed him from the doorway for a moment before fully walking into the garage and shutting the door just loud enough to get his attention. Tails turned and gave a small wave that Nack returned in kind. Tails spoke first.

"Can't sleep?" Nack nodded and motioned to his sky-bike before grabbing a few tools and heading over to it. For a time both of them worked in silence, Tails on the device that could get them back to their proper bodies and Nack on his well worn vehicle. Nack spoke up now, a question directed from underneath his bike.

"So what has you up so late? Isn't it past your bedtime or something?" Tails responded with an eye roll before responding, careful to still focus his eyes on the device in front of him.

"I wanted to get working on this as soon as possible, plus I had a thought on how to speed up the process while I was sleeping and didn't want to go back to sleep in case I forgot it." Nack nodded and understood before Tails voice rang out again, though somewhat hesitantly it sounded.

"I saw you on the news Nack. Good job. Just try to keep my body in one piece please." Nack winced at the thought of Tails knowing he'd done something so...heroic, worse still, Sonic probably knew, he blamed the body, he must have caught emotions from it. Still try as he might he knew that wasn't true, he'd wanted to help...and he hated that thought. Trying to move his mind forwards and get the conversation off of this topic he asked a question he'd been puzzling over.

"Hey, you mind if I take a look at one of the chaos emeralds, I wanna...check for something?" Tails stopped working and put down his screwdriver as he cast a glance at Nack still working at his bike. It wasn't like he could go anywhere's with it, plus he seemed a little, off, not so, rude was the word Tails thought of. What harm could it do by itself, so he went and retrieved the yellow emerald that had caused most of this.

Nack hadn't expected a yes, but a reply would have at least been nice he thought, pushing himself out from under the bike he planned to insult Tails, but instead found him standing in front of him, hand outstretched with the yellow emerald held in his palm. He looked up from it into the eyes he'd seen so many times in the mirror and saw the emotion he tried so hard to hide, concern, but it was soon washed away by a single curt nod. Moving to his feet he reached his hand out, fingers only a few centimeters away he looked at his face and grabbed for the emerald. A bright flash burst out of it with a blinding intensity and everything seemed to turn white and fade away.

/

Nack wasn't sure where he was, his head was throbbing and he could feel a faint pulling at his...the word that came to mind was soul but that wasn't a word he'd ever believed in for even a second. He looked around the landscape and sighted a thick grouping of trees and branches stretching out and a fork in the road. The road looked familiar, really familiar, but from his perspective it was like he was hovering above it. Then it happened, a scene he recognized so clearly but he was viewing it like some ghost from an old film.

Nack pulled himself from the woods and spat out some pine needles that had wacked him in the face. A fork in the road and a small glance showed him which way civilization was. He could see some flames and here yelling, maybe he could help. It was still his duty to protect, he had two working legs and he should use them for some good. Nack recalled the scene as the exact one he had been thinking about before bed, the moment he made his decision that led him to the only life he had ever known. Any second now the bullet that had made him run would come screeching from the brush and he would run right, away from the burning town. Except the bullet never came, and with a seconds pause the Nack who stood at the fork in the road turned left and ran as fast as he could to those in need.

/

Nack's hand came flying off the emerald in rush as the world blasted into view and he felt himself falling backwards, landing painfully on his backside with a thud. He gulped down air as his eyes came back into focus and he could see Tails standing their rubbing his eyes looking just as stunned. Finally Tails talked in a panicked voice just below a yell.

"What the heck was that!? I've never seen the emeralds do anything like that, why were you there, why were you at my village the day it burned down!" Now Nack was the one confused, his head was already spinning but now it was lost, the village that had been burning was his? Nack pushed himself up as he replied.

"Yeah it was a memory of mine but...It was all wrong, I ran right not left! There was a bullet that spooked me so I ran right. And what the heck do you mean your village, what are you talking about!" Tails tried to review everything he knew about the chaos emeralds in his mind, he knew they existed sort of, throughout time, so they could theoretically show visions of the past he guessed, but why now, he'd never seen it act like that before and it was freaking him out. He looked at Nack, a dead serious look in his face, he guessed it was time for him to explain a little about his past now.

"That was my village that was burning, I'd recognize it anywhere, it was...not a good place to be if you were different. The day it burned down though, during one of Robotniks first attacks was the day I met Sonic. He ran in and saved me right before I got crushed by one of Robotnik's robots. You weren't there though, I would have seen you, so your right that wasn't the right thing that should have happened. Why would the emeralds show us that?" Tails didn't know and at this point he wasn't certain he wanted to. With a shiver not due to the temperature Nack turned around without a word and went back into the house to go to bed. He didn't want to think about what had just happened, he wanted to be numbed by sleep as fast as possible.

Tails stood there completely astonished in the garage as he went over what Nack had said, if that was a memory that hadn't happened why would the emeralds show it, it made no sense. He quickly placed the emerald back into the vault and sealed the door before flicking the light switch and quickly heading out of the garage and upstairs. He paused, just outside of the door to his room, before walking past it and knocking on his brothers' door.

Sonic was awakened by three sharp knocks and groggily mumbled to come in to whoever it was. Seeing Nack standing in the doorway woke him up quickly expecting an all out fight before his brain remembered it was just Tails. He motioned for him to come over and sit on the bed as Sonic rubbed his eyes and pulled himself to a seated position.

Tails bit his lower lip just slightly as he wondered what exactly he should tell him, finally he just settled on a question he had never before thought to ask.

"Sonic, why did you come to my village when Eggman was attacking, he had hit a bunch of villages and towns in the area so why did you come to mine?" Sonic looked even more confused as he rubbed his eyes a little more to make sure he wasn't actually still dreaming. Finally he answered.

"I heard someone calling for help so I followed the sound. It kinda just led me to you little bro. Why, what's eating you? You know you can tell me anything right?" Tails quickly nodded and this brought a smile to the hedgehogs face as he threw his arms around his big brother in a surprise hug that Sonic quickly returned.

"I love you Sonic, I was just worried was all...a bad dream, that was all." Sonic nodded knowingly and ruffled his head fur as he let him relax and slowly drift off to sleep. With his new large body he doubted he could get him to his room without waking him, so he pushed over and fell asleep with his brothers head resting gently on the pillow.

Nack laid on top of his bed, eyes wide as h tried to understand what he had seen, it was exactly what he'd thought of just before he fell asleep but, it was wrong, like watching a movie of yourself when your younger, a memory so well engrained in your mind and then watching the you on video do the exact opposite of what you remembered. He was frightened and he couldn't place why, he tried to calm his mind and after a while, he finally fell into a tentative slumber.


End file.
